


Shine a Light

by orphan_account



Category: Castle
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-03
Updated: 2012-03-03
Packaged: 2017-11-01 01:29:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/350484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"This probably wasn't what your dad had in mind when he asked if I could give you any advice."</i>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Beckett makes an offer.  Alexis can't refuse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shine a Light

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the alternative pairings ficathon at castle_alt on LiveJournal. The prompt from carmen_sandiego was _Alexis/Beckett gen, career advice_.

Alexis is surprised when she gets the invitation by text message, but she doesn’t hesitate to accept.    
  
She arrives at the coffee shop first.  The line is long so she orders for both of them then stakes out a table for two, wondering if she should have waited.  It’s been a while and there’s no rule to say that Kate Beckett still drinks her grande latte with two pumps of sugar-free vanilla.  And what if the detective has been held up and doesn’t arrive till the coffee’s grown cold?    
  
Alexis is self-aware enough to know that she’s worrying about trivial what-ifs to keep her mind away from a slightly more serious concern.  She has no idea why Beckett asked if they could get together over coffee.  The text was vague, and the two only rarely interact without Alexis’s father bridging the gap.  It’s not that Alexis doesn’t respect and admire the detective.  On the contrary, she’s always been drawn to Beckett and can see why her father persists with his ‘book research’, despite the excuse wearing thinner with every passing case.  His willingness to follow his unofficial partner into ever more dangerous situations makes Alexis scared and angry, but she genuinely likes Beckett as a person.  It’s just...  They aren’t close.  They haven’t met up alone for a while now and on all the previous occasions it was at Alexis’s request.  This is the first time that Beckett has initiated contact and it makes Alexis slightly nervous.    
  
Before she can come up with any theories she catches sight of Beckett striding confidently through the open doorway, her head held high, eyes sweeping the room and its occupants.    
  
Is she clearing the room, like a cop?  Or is she simply searching for the person she’s come to meet, like any ordinary person entering a coffee shop?   Alexis can’t quite decide.  She sits forward and waves, catching Beckett’s attention.    
  
Beckett smiles and heads in her direction.  “Hey, Alexis.”  She slips gracefully into the seat opposite.    
  
“Hi.”  Alexis nods at the coffee.  “I hope that’s okay.”    
  
“Thanks.”  Beckett picks up the mug with two hands, eyebrows quirked in question.  “Vanilla latte?”    
  
Alexis nods again.    
  
“Perfect.”  Beckett takes a long sip, relaxing back into the chair.    
  
They make small-talk for a few minutes, sipping at their drinks as they discuss Beckett’s most recent case (straightforward and definitely not one of the weird ones) and Alexis’s current internship (retail management and not something she’s really interested in, but it’ll look good on her resume).  It’s not exactly awkward but it’s not quite comfortable either.  The topics are exhausted quickly, leaving the two women in an uneasy silence.  Alexis is about to make a comment about the mildness of the weather -- her father would be horrified at her lack of imagination -- when Beckett looks up from her cup and cuts to the chase.    
  
“Your dad said you’re considering law school.”    
  
It’s not really a question but Alexis finds herself nodding.  “Yes, I am.  More than considering, actually.”  As she talks, compelled to justify her answer, she wonders if she’s fallen victim to some kind of interrogation technique.  “I’m sure about it.  For the first time in a while I’m actually certain about the direction that I want to take.  I know that I don’t have any proper legal work experience yet, but I have plenty of time to get another internship.  What I learnt about legal processes during my internship at the OCME was really interesting.”  She can’t help smiling.  “Not to mention the things I’ve learnt through my dad’s work with you.  I’ve read up on so many different areas of the law and yet there’s always something new to discover.”  She laughs softly.  “That’s one thing that attracts me to it; it’s always evolving and there’s so much to learn, in such a variety of areas.  It’s fascinating.”  She hesitates before adding her other reason for choosing law.  “I lost my way when Stanford turned me down.  I’ve always had a plan, always known my next move in advance and up until I got that rejection letter I’d always achieved anything I set out to do.  Then suddenly I was lost and my future was blank.  For the first time I had no idea what I wanted to do next.  I wanted to do something worthwhile, which is why I was considering medicine.  But I was reading this article by a law student about working on the Innocence Project and suddenly it was like... a flash of light.  My dad always talks about inspiration striking but I’ve never experienced it for myself before.  I have a plan and the next step is law school.”  She sits back in her chair, her face burning as she resolves not to ramble on like that in her application.    
  
Beckett bites her lip briefly, then leans forward, cupping both hands around her mug.  “Feel free to say no, but I have an offer for you.”    
  
Almost against her will, Alexis finds herself leaning forward, mirroring Beckett’s position and anxiously waiting.  Beckett reaches up and tucks her hair behind her ear, something Alexis has observed her doing when stalling for time during a conversation, then gazes into her coffee for several seconds.    
  
Just as the anticipation is getting too much for Alexis, Beckett finally seems to gain courage from the depths of her drink.  “After my mom died I put all her stuff -- her legal papers, law books, everything from her home office -- into a storage unit.  I haven’t been back there much, and not at all recently, so I’ve never sorted through it.  I was wondering if you’d be interested in taking a look.”    
  
Alexis knows that she’s gaping but she can’t seem to close her mouth, let alone form words.    
  
Beckett seems to take her amazement as a negative reaction and hurriedly continues.  “A lot of it is probably completely outdated -- the law changes so quickly and it’s over ten years old -- but it might give you some idea of what a career as a lawyer can entail.  And if there’s anything that’s at all useful to you, you can keep it, of course.”    
  
Alexis still can’t get her brain to cooperate with her mouth.  Beckett is offering up a piece of her most closely guarded secret.  The detective is intensely private, especially about her mother.  Alexis is sure that Beckett likes and respects her to some extent (despite that awful scene outside the bank) and she was willing to put in a good word with Doctor Parish in support of Alexis’s internship.  But this...  This is trust.  And Alexis can’t think of anything she’s done to earn Kate Beckett’s trust.    
  
“You’d be doing me a favour.”  Beckett sips at her coffee, her hair falling forward again.  “I can’t ask just anyone for help with this, Alexis.  I stuffed everything into boxes and locked it away without really looking at it, and I don’t know if there are confidential papers in there.  Obviously, all the paperwork for her current cases was taken away, but nobody seemed concerned about the rest of it and I was in no state to find out the correct procedure.”    
  
The pride Alexis feels at Beckett’s request is shot through with a sting of sorrow.  She imagines a girl only slightly older than herself struggling to deal with the loss of a parent.  While she doesn’t know the whole story, Alexis has gathered that Beckett’s father wasn’t able to cope with his wife’s death.  She can’t imagine the burden that must have placed on his daughter.    
  
Alexis suddenly realises that she’s been silent too long.  Beckett is stirring the last dregs of coffee in her mug, studiously avoiding Alexis’s gaze.    
  
“Like I said,”  Beckett places the cup on the table and leans back, and Alexis can almost feel her withdrawing, closing the door that she’d so tantalisingly opened.  “Feel free to say no.  I’m pretty much asking you to help me sort out some old junk and I doubt any of it’ll be-”    
  
“Yes,” Alexis interrupts, finally overcoming her speechless surprise before the offer is withdrawn completely.  “Please.  Yes.  That would be...  Thank you.”    
  
Beckett meets her eyes again and smiles.    
  
\--  
  
“This probably wasn’t what your dad had in mind when he asked if I could give you any advice.”  Beckett bends to unlock the padlock.    
  
In the early years, stuck down the rabbit hole of her own private investigation, she’d visited this storage facility frequently.  After removing everything that might have pertained to her mother’s murder she’d had no reason to come back.  The things here were of sentimental value only in that they had belonged to Johanna.  Beckett had had no use for the remnants of her mother’s professional life, so she’d simply locked them away out of sight.    
  
Now the key only turns with some difficulty and the padlock creaks as she pulls it apart.    
  
Alexis helps raise the steel shutter and light spills into the storage unit.  The younger Castle seems excited, buzzing with a nervous energy reminiscent of her father.  Beckett hopes she won’t be disappointed.    
  
The two women step through the opening and into chaos.    
  
It’s worse than Beckett remembers.  Johanna’s home office had been meticulously organised, but Kate, grieving and angry, had simply thrown everything into whatever storage containers were at hand.  Later, she’d torn through the contents of this unit a couple of times, seeking that one vital clue that would solve the murder.  She hadn’t been all that concerned about keeping everything else in order.    
  
She shouldn’t have brought Alexis here.  She can’t imagine how it looks to an outsider’s eyes.  She hurries to apologise, offer an alternative, give Alexis a way out.  “Alexis, my dad was a lawyer too and he still has contacts.  If you want to try a legal internship I’m sure he’d be able to help you find something.  I’d forgotten quite how disorganised this all was.  I really don’t think that there’s going to be anything useful to you here.”    
  
The haphazard stacks of cardboard boxes mock her.  The plastic tubs are piled high against the metal walls, and grocery bags and milk crates overflow with papers.  Kate has a sudden flash of memory, her mother berating her for the state of her bedroom.  If she could see this mess...  
  
Alexis’s hand on her arm pulls her from the memories.  “Beckett.  Kate.”  Her blue eyes are shining with excitement and something else.  “This is better than any internship.”  She turns back to survey the storage unit, her hands going to her hips and her posture stiffening even as her voice softens.  “Besides, have you forgotten how I organised the property room at the Precinct?  Even if there’s nothing here that’s relevant to my future as a hotshot lawyer, I can help you sort it out.  You want to organise it, don’t you?”  She glances up at Beckett before moving towards a nearby container and reaching out to brush a hand across the top of a stack of books.    
  
“There might be some stuff you want to keep.  Some people keep photos or mementos on their desks.  You might find something you’d forgotten your mom had.  And if the papers are no longer relevant we can bundle them up and maybe see if they can be destroyed?  We can do this, Kate.  _I_ can do this.  I can make it neat and tidy.  Even if you’re not ready to get rid of any of it yet, at least it’ll be organised for when you are.”    
  
Beckett considers Alexis’s words as she examines the storage unit again.  There’s nothing here from the period immediately before her mother’s murder.  She knows that for a fact.  She wouldn’t risk exposing Alexis to even a hint of the darkness of that time.  So really, what harm is there in allowing her to help bring some order to the chaos?    
  
It feels selfish.  She brought Alexis here for the younger woman’s benefit, not to put her to work on a task that Kate herself has always felt unable to face.  And yet perhaps this is exactly what is needed.  Beckett had an ulterior motive for offering up this part of her past rather than simply helping Alexis to find a legal internship.  She wants to connect with Alexis again.  They’ve lost something over the last couple of years that Kate can’t quite put her finger on, but she wants it back.  She wants things to be more like they were in the early days of her partnership with Castle, when Alexis did work experience at the Precinct, or called her up for advice, or welcomed her at the loft without feeling the need to vanish upstairs.  They’ve become familiar strangers, knowing each other without really _knowing_ each other, and it’s just not enough anymore.    
  
Alexis is waiting patiently, looking at Beckett in a way that suggests she understands how difficult this decision is.  She still looks eager though, and anxious to get started on a task she genuinely seems to relish.  It cements Beckett’s resolve.    
  
“Okay then.”  Kate rolls up her sleeves -- literally and metaphorically -- and smiles at her companion.  “We’d better get started.”    
  
Alexis beams and immediately initiates a plan of attack that allows her to work logically through the boxes.    
  
For the most part Kate just stands back and lets Alexis organise, occasionally offering opinions on items found.  As she watches it becomes clearer and clearer that she made the right decision in bringing Alexis here.  These things were a significant part of Johanna’s professional life and it’s right that someone sees them, cares enough to help sort through them.    
  
Kate feels something when she sees Alexis, all bright-eyed eagerness, on her knees before a cardboard box pulling out files labelled in Johanna’s handwriting.  Frequently, the younger woman gets distracted, reading through a thick file or flicking through a dusty legal tome as though it’s more exciting than a mystery novel.  Every so often she calls Kate over to point something out -- an award her mother had won, a paper she’d written for a legal journal, a newspaper cutting about a project she’d initiated at the law school.  Eventually Kate just sits cross-legged on the floor beside Alexis and waits to hear the next discovery.  Alexis is efficient, organising papers, books and files so that they take up less space.  She manages to empty several boxes, which is convenient when the pile of things Alexis wants to keep is growing bigger and bigger.  Kate collects very few items for herself -- although she treasures a dogeared photograph of her father that had been used as a book mark in a textbook on Constitutional Law -- but she’s gratified that Alexis wants to keep so much.  Maybe some use will come from her mother’s possessions after all.  Something eases in her chest at the feeling that she’s passing something of Johanna on to a younger generation.    
  
This sense of legacy in relation to her mother is still fragile and new.  The darkness of the murder so often overshadows the achievements of the life it cut short.  Kate has always thought that only solving the case will bring closure, but she’s finding more and more ways of bringing light to her memories of her mother.  Things like the scholarship benefit that Castle organised help hold back the shadows.    
  
Now the darkness is receding further with every object Alexis lifts into the light.    
  
 **End**


End file.
